By

Published November 2003

Abstract

Together, Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional and Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 bring

exciting new and enhanced features to all types of mobile users. This white paper describes these

features and how they help IT professionals give mobile users a better computing experience, making

them more productive on the road and in the office.

The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.

This white paper is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.

Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.

© 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, ClearType, Hotmail MSN, the Office logo, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Visual Basic, Windows, the Windows logo, and Windows Mobile are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Microsoft Corporation • One Microsoft Way • Redmond, WA 98052-6399 • USA

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Contents

Introduction............................................................................................4

Mobility Scenarios..................................................................................5

Road Warrior 5

Corridor Warrior 6

Telecommuter 6

Data Collector 6

Mobility Devices.....................................................................................8

Notebook PC 8

Tablet PC 9

Pocket PC 2003 10

Smartphone 10

Mobile Connectivity..............................................................................12

Provides Fast and Inexpensive Network Access 12

Empowers Information Workers to Collaborate More Effectively 18

Enables Employees to Communicate and Coordinate 19

Mobile Productivity..............................................................................22

Users Accomplish More in Less Time 22

Users Are Productive in the Office and on the Go 25

Makes Unplugging and Hitting the Road Easier 27

Mobile Dependability............................................................................29

Provides Tools to Quickly Resolve Problems 30

Helps Keep Confidential Information Safer 32

Helps Protect Networks from Malicious Intruders 33

Summary...............................................................................................36

For More Information...........................................................................37

Sources.................................................................................................38

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Introduction

Laptops continue to rise in popularity as business users shun traditional desktop PCs in favor of more

portable technologies. The trend shows that business-savvy users are more eager than ever to adopt mobile

technologies. Microsoft caters to their needs with the mobility features built into Microsoft Windows XP and

Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003. Microsoft designed both to provide users with access to their

information in the office and on the road and to make supporting mobile users easier for IT professionals.

Traditional mobile computing is giving way to recent advances. The basic laptop computer is still the

cornerstone of most mobile users’ travel gear, but new form factors, such as the Tablet PC and Smartphone,

are brilliant complements that better address their needs in different scenarios. Microsoft is extending the

business features in Microsoft Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 to adapt to

these new form factors.

First on the mind of most IT professionals is the impact that Windows XP Professional and Office Professional

Edition 2003 have on their users’ productivity. According to the white paper “Higher Yields: The Financial

Benefits of Windows XP Professional,” mobile users can be more productive by an additional $259 per

computer each year directly due to the mobile features built into Windows XP. Additionally, user productivity

per computer can increase by about $46 a year. Most of this achievement is due to better reliability and faster

startup. These features, and Office Professional Edition 2003 features not mentioned in “Higher Yields: The

Financial Benefits of Windows XP Professional,” are the subject of this white paper. This white paper also

describes features for IT professionals who support mobile users.

In this paper, you find the following sections:

This section: Describes:

Mobility Scenarios The four basic types of mobile users

Mobility Devices The four basic types of mobile devices

Mobile Connectivity How Windows XP Professional enhances connectivity and collaboration

Mobile Productivity How Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 make users more productive

Mobile Dependability Why Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 are more secure and reliable

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Mobility Scenarios

This section describes four basic types of mobile users, which Table 1 summarizes:

Road Warrior. Professionals who travel frequently and require remote access

Corridor Warrior. Knowledge workers who spend most of their time away from their desks

Telecommuter. Knowledge workers who work occasionally at home

Data Collector. Field service employees who travel full-time, requiring remote access

Table 1. Mobility Scenarios

Road Warrior Corridor Warrior Telecommuter Data Collector

Profile

Connects to customers and colleagues

Spends most time away from desk

Collaborates with colleagues

Accesses the corporate network irregularly

Collects and processes data

Delivers enhanced services to clients

Travel >80% of the time <20% of the time

Meetings all day

Access network from home or home office

>80% externally

Requirements

Access to corporate network resources and LOB applications

Access to information and applications while away from desk

Access to information and applications while at home office

Access to corporate network resources and LOB applications

Mobile Access

Dial-up

VPN

Public wireless

Dial-up

VPN

Corporate wireless

Remote Desktop

Dial-up

Cable, DSL

VPN

Remote Desktop

Dial-up

VPN

Public wireless

Examples

Executives

Consultants

Sales representatives

Executives

Healthcare workers

Students

Knowledge workers

Field service employees in various industries

Road WarriorRoad warriors are typically professionals who travel frequently, up to 80 percent of the time. They require

technology that enables them to stay connected with customers and colleagues, which allows them to work

anytime from anywhere. For example, the following types of users are typically road warriors:

Executives

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Consultants

Sales representatives

Insurance agents

Pharmaceutical representatives

Road warriors have a broad choice of mobile devices from which to choose. They can use a traditional laptop

computer or Tablet PC with wired and wireless networking. In any case, they require access to corporate

network resources and line-of-business (LOB) applications through dial-up connections, virtual private

networking (VPN), or wireless public access. They can back up their primary mobile PC with a Pocket PC or

Smartphone enabled for wireless networking. They tend to use their handheld devices for calendaring, email,

and travel planning.

Corridor WarriorCorridor warriors are typically mobile professionals, including executives and healthcare workers, and mobile

students in campus environments. They travel less than 20 percent of the time and are usually dashing

through the corridors from one meeting or one patient to the next. They require access to information and

applications while away from their desks, ad hoc collaboration with their colleagues, and a paperless

environment.

Corridor warriors have a broad choice of mobile devices from which to choose, similar to road warriors. They

can use a traditional laptop computer or Tablet PC with wired and wireless networking. Healthcare workers

favor Tablet PC. Alternatively, they can use a traditional desktop computer backed up by a Pocket PC.

Regardless, access to corporate network resources through wireless networks allows them to remain

productive as they move throughout their environment during the day. They also benefit from remote access

to their desktops by using Remote Desktop.

TelecommuterTelecommuters work at home at least one day a week. A related type of user, work extenders, works at home

only occasionally. In any case, they work at home or out of the office less than 25 percent of the time.

Telecommuters typically have a traditional desktop or laptop computer at the office and a second computer at

home. They require remote access to corporate network resources using VPN through dial-up connections,

cable, or DSL. They also connect to their primary desktop computer by using Remote Desktop.

Data CollectorData collectors are field service employees in a variety of vertical industries. They tend to collect and process

data, deliver enhanced services to better serve clients, and are out of the office more than 80 percent of the

time. For example, data collectors are typical in the following industries:

Healthcare

Finance

Insurance

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Retail

Manufacturing

Government

Transport

Distribution

Engineering

Construction

Utilities

Emergency rescue

Data collectors use laptop computers and Tablet PCs with wireless networking. Alternatively, they use

handheld devices, such as a Pocket PC, or a phone with data capabilities, such as Smartphone. They require

access to LOB applications through dial-up connections, VPN, and wireless networking. They are potentially

heavy users of wireless hotspots (public wireless networks).

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Mobility Devices

This section describes the four basic types of mobile devices:

Notebook PC

Tablet PC

Pocket PC

Smartphone

Figure 1 relates each type of mobile user to the mobile devices most suitable for their requirements. Each

quadrant in this figure represents a level of productivity and mobility, with the top-right quadrant representing

the highest level of both. The sections following this one describe each type of device in more detail.

Figure 1. Mobility Usage Scenarios

Notebook PCNotebook PCs (e.g., laptops, portables, etc.) are the staple computers for most business travelers. Current

models contain in a slim form the processing power and conveniences that were limited to traditional desktop

computers only a few years ago. For example, current high-end laptops, most of which are designed for

Windows XP, contain feature sets similar to the following:

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PoPotetenti ntial al Pr Prododucuctivtivity ity Ga Gaininss

Increased MobilityIncreased Mobility

Corridor WarriorCorridor Warrior

Tablet PC or Notebook + Tablet PC or Notebook + possibly Pocket PCpossibly Pocket PC

Road WarriorRoad Warrior

Desktop or NotebookDesktop or Notebook

and Home PCand Home PC

TelecommuterTelecommuter

Work ExtenderWork ExtenderData CollectorData Collector

Tablet PC or Notebook +Tablet PC or Notebook +

Pocket PC and/or SmartphonePocket PC and/or Smartphone

Tablet PC or Notebook +Tablet PC or Notebook +

Pocket PC and/or SmartphonePocket PC and/or Smartphone

Pentium 4 mobile processor

256 MB of memory

40 GB of hard disk space

Enhanced battery life and management

High-resolution display adapters (1280 X 1024, for example)

Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports

FireWire (IEEE 1394) ports

Wi-Fi networking support (802.11b wireless networking)

Bluetooth wireless

These features make current-day laptop computers feasible replacements for desktop computers and

essential companions for road warriors. Maintaining both types of PCs is no longer necessary.

Tablet PCTablet PCs and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition extend the features of laptop computers and Windows XP,

making them the best choices for the millions of road warriors, corridor warriors, and data collectors. Sales

representatives working on the road, senior executives overseeing operations around the world, or

supervisors working on the manufacturing floor all spend many hours each week working in places other than

their offices.

Tablet PCs give mobile workers a powerful, versatile computing experience. The Tablet PC is a full-functional

laptop that runs Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is a superset of Windows XP

Professional designed to add pen computing to an already rich feature set, not a stripped-down version of the

operating system. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition provides new, advanced handwriting and speech

recognition, which is surprisingly accurate, enabling the creation, storage, and transmission of handwritten

notes and voice data.

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition adds the following to the features of typical laptop PCs:

Tablet PCs run Windows XP Professional with specific enhancements for tablet computers. Users get all

the features, reliability, and power of Microsoft’s latest operating system as well as handwriting and

speech recognition in a tablet form factor.

Tablet PCs can run any application that’s compatible with Windows XP. Users have access to the same

tools that they have on their desktop computers in more versatile, tablet computers.

Tablet PCs are available in two form factors, pure tablet and convertible, allowing users to choose a

model that best suits their needs. Pure tablets don’t have a keyboard and rely on the pen as the primary

input device. Convertible tablets have a keyboard and mouse but allow users to rotate the screen to use it

like a tablet.

Tablet PCs support docking stations and a variety of common accessories. Users can take advantage of

a full complement of peripherals, including a full-size monitor, keyboard, mouse, printers, and external

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drives.

Tablet PCs enable surprise hot-docking as well as fast standby and resume. Surprise hot-docking allows

users to grab their Tablet PCs from their docking stations and get down the corridor in a hurry. Also,

Tablet PCs resume from standby mode in about 5 seconds. This functionality allows users to save power

when they aren’t using their computers without wasting time when they’re ready to use their computers

again.

Last, pen and ink features extend to Office Professional Edition 2003 including ink capabilities in each Office

Professional Edition 2003 program, so you can use your tablets’ pens to handwrite text in Microsoft Office

Outlook® 2003, Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2003, and Microsoft Office Excel

2003.

Pocket PC 2003Windows-based Pocket PCs give users the freedom to manage their work while on the go. They provide

users the choice to communicate how they choose and stay connected to corporate information when they’re

not in the office. Pocket PCs include familiar Microsoft software, including Pocket versions of Outlook, Word,

Excel, and Internet Explorer. And, since Pocket PCs integrate with users’ desktop computers, users can take

their files with them without having to learn new software.

Here are some examples of what users can do with Pocket PCs, using a form factor that fits in their pockets:

Wirelessly exchange email and browse the Web

Wirelessly exchange messages by using MSN® Messenger

Open email attachments and edit them by using Pocket Word and Excel

Access travel information, including local weather, flight status, and maps

Make travel reservations, such as car, hotel, flight, and dinner

Microsoft recently released Windows Mobile™ 2003 that adds many features that mobile business users

need. It includes Zero Configuration wireless, for example, just like Windows XP. It supports Bluetooth, which

makes connecting a Pocket PC to other Bluetooth-enabled devices easy. Microsoft updated Connection

Manager to make managing connections easier for users. And Pocket PC 2003 includes better support for

messaging, input, contact management, calendaring, and much more. The new features of Pocket PC 2003

make it a truly indispensable tool for the mobile business user.

SmartphoneWindows Mobile-based Smartphones extend mobile phone technology by combining the best of mobile

phones with the best of Pocket PCs. Smartphones deliver a rich set of applications, highly integrated

telephony functionality, and an open development platform. Mobile phones built on the Smartphone platform

provide both voice and text communication and rich wireless data applications in one easy-to-use device, as

well as make it a truly personal and powerful mobile phone for work.

What’s the difference between a Pocket PC and a Smartphone? With Windows Mobile software, Microsoft is

introducing a new phone experience. The company is integrating PDA-type functionality that mobile users rely

on to do their jobs into a voice-centric handset that is comparable in size to today's popular cell phones.

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Smartphones are designed for one-handed operation with keypad access to both voice or data features.

They’re optimized for voice and text communication, wireless access to Outlook information, and connections

to corporate networks and the Internet. The Windows Mobile-based Smartphone gives users a choice to

communicate via voice or text along with the ability to access information and services so you can stay in

touch while on the road.

Windows Mobile-based Smartphones are now available. The Motorola MPx200 is available in the US, for

example, and Figure 2 shows the actual device.

Figure 2. Motorola MPx200 Windows Mobile-based Smartphone

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Mobile Connectivity

Along with the dependability that Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 provide,

connectivity is an important attribute for mobile users. All recent versions of Windows provide the support to

connect to remote network resources, but Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003

make it easier to connect, with less support from IT. This section describes how Windows XP Professional

and Office Professional Edition 2003 make connecting to corporate network resources and LOB applications

easier and more productive for all types of mobile users:

Provides fast and inexpensive network access. All four types of mobile users—road warriors, corridor

warriors, telecommuters, and data collectors—can rely on Windows XP’s remote access features to help

connect them to corporate network resources, LOB applications, and their desktop computers. Road

warriors and corridor warriors benefit from Windows XP’s built-in support for Wi-Fi networking.

Automatic wireless configuration makes wireless networking more practical for these users than ever

before. According to Gartner Dataquest, wireless networking in Windows XP Professional enables users

to be 41 percent more productive, giving them an extra 7.5 hours of productivity each week. In Windows

XP, configuring network connections is much easier than in earlier versions of Windows. This makes

connections easier to create for all types of mobile users. Estimates are that simplified network

configuration saves organizations $68 per laptop each year. 1

Wireless networking and simplified network configurations are one of the biggest boons in Windows XP

Professional for IT professionals. Users are more able to configure their own network connections,

becoming more self-sufficient. IT professionals no longer have to plan and configure every connection

when they deploy the operating system to mobile users. The Help desk gets fewer calls from mobile users

as they change environments and thus need to configure new network connections.

Empowers employees to collaborate more effectively. An increasingly important task for mobile users,

particularly road warriors and corridor warriors, is collaborating with customers and colleagues while away

from their desks. Office Professional Edition 2003 includes features that make collaboration more

productive, such as Meeting Workspaces (which provide a centralized place to share agendas, visual

resources, and other meeting documents) and Document Workspaces (which enable users to save,

access, and modify documents in a central location).

Enables employees to communicate and coordinate. All four types of mobile users benefit from better

communication and coordination with customers, partners, and colleagues. Windows XP Professional

provides Windows Messenger for text, audio, and video messaging. Office Professional Edition 2003

integrates with Windows SharePoint™ Services (Microsoft Windows Server 2003 required), which

enables teams to quickly build team-oriented collaborative Web sites, and Outlook 2003 makes

coordinating schedules and contacts much easier and sharing attachments less complicated.

Provides Fast and Inexpensive Network AccessThe following list shows how Windows XP Professional makes connecting to corporate network resources

easier:

Mobile users connect corporate network resources remotely.

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Windows XP Professional makes it significantly easier for users to remotely connect to networks,

including to VPNs, over dial-up connections, infrared, and direct cable connections. The New Connection

Wizard guides them through setting up connections to different types of networks, eliminating the need to

manually configure settings or the requirement that IT professionals configure connections during

deployment. The New Connection Wizard helps users create many types of new connections using a

single user interface. Connection setup is automated, eliminating the need to install additional services.

Remote connection options include the following:

o Dialing up to a private network. There are more options available for configuring dialing

properties when you connect to a private network over a telephone line, such as when using calling

cards, personal identification numbers (PINs), and other connection-specific information.

o Dialing up to the Internet. It's easier than ever to set proxy settings and other Internet-specific

information when users connect to the Internet.

o Accepting incoming calls. Users can set access permissions when accepting connections

through modem, Infrared Data Association (IrDA), or direct cable connection.

o Connecting directly to another computer. A wizard guides users through the process of

making a direct cable connection, which makes connecting two computers much simpler.

o Connecting to private virtual networks through the Internet. Connecting to a VPN is easy

for all users, as shown in Figure 3. A wizard and automatic VPN component configuration option

eliminate the need to reboot.

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Figure 3. Network Connection Wizard

VPNs help to use the Internet as a secured pipeline to the corporate network. When users are traveling,

they can dial in to almost any local Internet Service Provider (ISP) and then set up a VPN session to

connect to the corporate network over the Internet. With VPNs, organizations can significantly reduce

long-distance charges and mobile users have an inexpensive method of remaining connected to the

corporate network for extended periods. Configuring Windows XP Professional to connect using a VPN is

significantly easier with the new Network Connection Wizard. Users enter the VPN server name, and

Windows XP Professional automatically configures the device and adds the appropriate networking

services. In addition to supporting today’s most common VPN protocol, Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol

(PPTP), Windows XP Professional supports new, more secure ways of creating virtual connections.

These include Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) and Internet Protocol Security (IPSec), which allow

users to connect to corporate networks with confidence.

IT professionals don’t have to configure these connections in advance, either, and they’re less likely to

receive late-night phone calls from frustrated mobile users because those users are more likely to

configure their own connections successfully.

Windows XP Professional eliminates repetitive configuration while traveling by allowing mobile

users to configure settings for each location, including dialing rules.

Mobile users often connect to many different networks while they’re traveling, such as different client

networks, corporate networks, and ISPs. With earlier versions of Windows, users must reconfigure their

modems each time they connect to a different network. For example, a corporation’s proxy server might

require a different modem configuration than the user’s ISP. This manual reconfiguration isn’t needed with

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Windows XP. Instead, the Per-Connection Settings feature retains individual settings for each network

connection, so users can connect to different networks without remembering and reconfiguring complex

settings for each one.

The Favorites feature for Connection Manager enables users to eliminate repetitive configuration of the

Connection Manager properties when switching between common dialing locations. This capability makes

it easy to store and access settings. For example, when mobile users travel between a home office and a

business partner’s office, they can use Connection Manager to configure settings for each location,

including the nearest access telephone number, area code, and dialing rules. You can then choose from

saved settings to quickly set up network connections from each location.

Last, users who use their laptops on more than one network face the problem of using a static IP address

at one location and dynamic IP addressing at another. For example, they might use dynamic addressing

(DHCP) at work but a static IP address at home to connect with a broadband ISP. Windows XP

Professional includes Network Location Awareness, which allows users to move between wired networks,

such as the organization’s corporate network and users’ home networks, without reconfiguring their

laptops. IT professionals now have a solution for one of the most common dilemmas with configuring

network connections for typical mobile users.

Mobile users connect to their desktop computer from home or on the road and access all of their

applications, information, and network resources as if they were sitting at their own computer.

Remote Desktop is based on Terminal Services technology. Using Remote Desktop, shown in Figure 4,

users can run applications on a remote computer running Windows XP Professional from any other client

running Windows 95 or later. The applications run on the remote computer and only the keyboard input,

mouse input, and display output data are transmitted over the network to the remote location. Remote

Desktop even works well in low-bandwidth scenarios.

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Figure 4. Remote Desktop

Remote Desktop lets users take advantage of the flexibility that a distributed computing environment

provides. A standard component of Windows XP Professional (although not included in Windows XP

Home Edition), Remote Desktop allows mobile users to access their Windows XP–based computer

remotely, over any connection, using any Windows 95 or later–based client. Remote Desktop gives users

access to all their applications, files, and network resources—as if they were sitting in front of their own

computers. Any applications that they leave running at the office will be running when they connect

remotely—at home, in a conference room, or on the road.

As an IT professional, imagine troubleshooting users’ computers without ever getting up from your desk.

Remote Desktop allows IT professionals to log on to users’ computers as Administrator to troubleshoot,

configure, and install applications. This capability eliminates the need to visit the user, which is often

impossible with mobile users, and prevents IT professionals from dumping users into the Administrators

group. And Remote Desktop performs admirably well even over slow links such as dial-up connections.

Mobile users go where they want while staying connected to the network, reducing network

deployment costs at the office and allowing users to tap into public wireless networks.

Wireless networking can extend network users' freedom to solve various problems associated with hard-

wired networks and even reduce network deployment costs in some cases. Windows XP Professional

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includes key enhancements that make wireless networking faster and easier.

In the past, the most reliable way for mobile users to get online with their laptops while away from the

office was to find a telephone line. For high-speed access, they needed to find a wired network

connection. Windows XP Professional takes advantage of wireless technology and wireless access

points, public or private, to provide untethered access to the Internet and corporate network by using the

leading technology for broadband wireless networks today, known as Wi-Fi networking.

Wireless networking in Windows XP Professional also means less work for IT professionals. Rather than

spending days wiring a conference room for network connectivity, for example, IT professionals can

deploy wireless access points to their conference rooms.

Mobile users can roam from wireless network to wireless network without needing to reconfigure

network connection settings on their laptop computers or Tablet PCs.

The white paper “Higher Yields: The Financial Benefits of Windows XP Professional” attributes a savings

of $830 per year per laptop for automatic configuration, which makes wireless networking practical.

Windows XP Professional offers automatic wireless network configuration using the Wi-Fi standard for

wireless networks, minimizing the configuration that is required to access wireless networks.

Any IT professional who has configured wireless networking connections prior to Windows XP

Professional knows that configuring a wireless connection is often more work than it’s worth. Windows XP

Professional makes configuring wireless connections so automatic that users can do it themselves.

When users enable automatic wireless network configuration on their laptop computers, they can roam

across different wireless networks without needing to reconfigure the network connection settings on their

computers for each location. As they move from one location to a new location, automatic wireless

network configuration searches for available wireless networks and notifies them when there are new

wireless networks available. After they select the wireless network that they want to use, automatic

wireless network configuration updates the users’ wireless network adapter to match the settings of that

wireless network and attempts to connect to that wireless network. With automatic wireless network

configuration, users can create a list of preferred wireless networks and specify the order in which to

attempt connections to these wireless networks.

Recently, Microsoft announced Wireless Provisioning Service (WPS). This service makes connecting to

public hotspots even easier by providing a standards-based way to provision and manage public wireless

connections. It allows Windows XP Professional users to connect to hot spots with a seamless sign-up

process and enables a more secure wireless network access.

Mobile users can conveniently share information with other mobile users without cables.

Windows XP Professional supports the IrDA protocol suite that lets users transfer information and share

resources, such as printers, between computers with no physical cables. Recent models of laptop

computers include hardware support for IrDA. For example, two mobile users traveling with laptop

computers can transfer files by creating an IrDA connection instead of using cables or floppy disks. When

they place their two computers close to each other, IrDA automatically configures the connection.

Also, with ad hoc Wi-Fi networking, two mobile users can exchange files wirelessly. An infrastructure

wireless network requires an access point to connect to a network, which is a computer-to-network

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wireless network. On the other hand, an ad hoc wireless network is a computer-to-computer wireless

network that doesn’t require an access point but rather that each computer has a wireless NIC.

Empowers Information Workers to Collaborate More EffectivelyThe following list shows how Microsoft Office OneNote™ 2003, pictured in Figure 5, and Tablet PCs empower

mobile users to collaborate effectively:

OneNote 2003 allows users to contribute in an increasingly demanding business environment by

taking accurate, comprehensive notes.

Notes written on paper have many problems. They’re often illegible. People often miss important points.

And errors are often made during transcription. By using OneNote 2003, users can take notes on their

Tablet PCs or laptop computers—whichever way they want. They can insert any type of information

anywhere in their notebook. They can drag and drop text, graphics, and pictures from other Office

Professional Edition 2003 programs or the Web. And OneNote 2003 automatically saves users notes for

them.

OneNote 2003 helps mobile users to access crucial information so they can make better decisions

and take more effective action.

A problem with notes written on paper is that people loose them or don’t understand them later. Not only

do paper-based notes lead to a loss of crucial information, but they’re difficult to organize. OneNote 2003

enables users to organize all of their notes in one place so that important information isn’t lost. First,

OneNote 2003 presents users’ notes to them in a familiar notebook structure, so they’re already familiar

with the paradigm. And the program allows users to organize their notes anyway that makes sense—

across folders, sections, and pages. Finding information in a notebook is easy by using the Search

feature, and users can highlight key points and action items with Note Flags.

OneNote 2003 gets teams and organizations on the same page so they can work together with

speed and agility.

People tend not to share their notes with other team members, and the result is that key information is not

retained and team members don’t work together as well as they could. With OneNote 2003, users can

easily find notes that contain important information and then share those notes with team members. For

example, users can easily create Office Professional Edition 2003 documents from their notes. They can

quickly email notes to other team members. And they can publish their notes as HTML documents or

collaborate on a notebook section by using Windows SharePoint Services (Windows Server 2003

required).

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Figure 5. OneNote 2003

Enables Employees to Communicate and CoordinateThe following list shows how Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 make

communication and coordination easier:

Mobile users keep in touch with partners, customers, and colleagues, building deeper

relationships, so they can capitalize on opportunities as they happen.

Windows Messenger enables mobile users to easily stay in touch with their customers, partners, and

colleagues. It keeps users updated with their contacts' online status. Users can collaborate with their

online contacts, transfer files, and share applications and whiteboard drawings. Windows Messenger

provides users with a great platform for online conferencing and collaboration. Windows Messenger also

improves relationships with customers and partners and enhances communication among employees.

The Windows Messenger technology in Windows XP Professional delivers three key features that enable

its benefits:

o An easy, complete real-time communications experience that lets users control their

communications

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o A better-quality experience featuring phone-call-quality voice and acceptable-quality video, so

calling over the Internet is not only affordable but also engaging

o An extensible platform that extends the benefits of real-time communications to any application

or service, enabling users to leverage innovations from a variety of developers and service providers

Outlook 2003 integrates with Windows Messenger, too. When Outlook 2003 users open email messages

or contact cards, they can identify whether those contacts are online. Users can then immediately start a

Windows Messenger session from within Outlook 2003.

Mobile users better manage their day with improved calendaring, scheduling, notifications, and

group coordination features built in to Outlook 2003.

Users with multiple email accounts (such as a Hotmail® account and an account on Microsoft Exchange

Server 2003) can choose on a per-message basis what account to use to send their message. When

users choose an account, an information bar shows which account is used to send the mail. Explicit rules

are built in to determine which account should be used as the default.

Users can share Free/Busy information with others over the Internet. Sharing this information makes it

easier to schedule meetings between Outlook 2003 users who don’t share an Exchange server.

When receiving a meeting request, users now have the option of proposing a new meeting time to the

meeting organizer rather than just declining the request. Also, users who have Exchange server will be

able to see Free/Busy information for each attendee before submitting the new meeting time.

Last, users can save multiple group calendars within Outlook 2003 for quick and easy access to their

team or conference room schedules. Within this single calendar interface, users can view the free and

busy times of their group as well as easily send email or set up an appointment with the entire group.

Outlook 2003 allows users to connect to Exchange Server 2003 using RPC over HTTP.

You can configure user accounts in Outlook 2003 to connect to Exchange Server 2003 over the Internet

without the need to use VPN connections. When used with the Windows Server 2003 RPC Proxy Service

and Microsoft Exchange 2003, Outlook 2003 clients can connect simply by using HTTP or HTTPS,

thereby reducing the need for VPNs or dial-up remote access. If remote users need only to gain access to

corporate messaging information, your IT department doesn’t need to deploy VPN infrastructure. VPN-

less access reduces costs and provides for increased security by ensuring that remote Outlook users

don’t need access to the entire network. This unifies the connection methods also found in Outlook Web

Access and Outlook Mobile Access.

Outlook 2003 improves the offline experience for mobile users.

Outlook 2003 clients using Cached Exchange Mode perform most email-related tasks from the local

client, reducing the number of requests to the server for data and improving performance for items stored

in the local copy of the mailbox. After the full copy of a user mailbox and offline address book is

downloaded, Cached Exchange Mode significantly reduces network bandwidth consumption for email

between the client and server. This greatly improves the Outlook experience for remote or branch office

users, as well as removes the need to restart Outlook to an offline profile when network interruptions

occur. While Cached Exchange Mode works with previous versions of Exchange, additional

improvements in compression and performance between Outlook 2003 and Exchange 2003 make the

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user experience even better.

Outlook 2003 improves performance and reduces network bandwidth used.

When you use Outlook 2003 and Exchange 2003, all mailbox content is compressed on the server

running Exchange before sending information to Outlook 2003 clients. This significantly reduces network

bandwidth consumption between the client and server, enabling you to consolidate additional Exchange

sites. After compressing the information, Exchange 2003 packages all information that it sends to Outlook

2003 clients in larger and more optimized buffer packets, thereby reducing the number of requests to and

from the servers running Exchange.

Outlook Web Access 2003 provides easy access to users’ email, calendars, and contacts.

Outlook Web Access enables users to gain access to their messages, calendars, contacts, tasks, and

public folders from any computer with an Internet connection and a Web browser. With Exchange Server

2003, Outlook Web Access has even better performance, is more secure, and has user interface

improvements that closely match those of Outlook 2003.

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Mobile Productivity

The combination of Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 helps make mobile users

more productive. Because of higher levels of dependability and connectivity in both products, they spend less

time supporting problems, managing features, and mitigating security risks and more time on other important

tasks.

Additionally, Windows XP Professional features, such as the new Start menu and task-based design, and

Office Professional Edition 2003 features, such as Task Panes and Smart Tags, are responsible for making

users 25 percent more productive than with Windows 2000 and Office 2000. American Institutes for Research

(AIR) conducted extensive studies to reach this conclusion. The result is that with Office XP, users completed

all tasks in less time and were able to complete more tasks than with Office 2000. 2

Not only are users more productive, but also users can get their work done faster with Windows XP. eTesting

Labs found that Windows XP Professional is faster than any other version of Windows. The operating system

starts 27 percent faster than Windows 98, for example. It resumes from Standby mode 19 percent faster and

resumes from Hibernate mode 13 percent faster. As well, eTesting Labs found that Windows XP Professional

performs the Business Winstone 2001 benchmark 26 percent faster and the Content Creation Winstone 2001

benchmark 77 percent faster than Windows 98. Windows XP Professional launches applications 50 percent

faster than Windows 98. 1

This section describes the benefits to productivity that Windows XP Professional and Office Professional

Edition 2003 provide:

Users accomplish more in less time. This benefit applies equally to all types of mobile users. They’re

all more productive with Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 than with earlier

versions of these products. Although users performing tasks faster is important to organizations’ overall

productivity, the Help desk also benefits directly from users’ ability to complete more tasks without calling

the Help desk for instructions.

Users are productive in the office and on the go. Road warriors and data collectors benefit most from

the Windows XP Professional features that allow mobile users to take important information with them on

the road. These features require less configuration and management from IT professionals, too, because

they’re more automatic and users are more self-sufficient.

Makes unplugging and hitting the road easier. Although road warriors and data collectors receive

significant benefits from easier docking solutions, Plug and Play, and faster resuming from Standby and

Hibernation modes, corridor warriors receive the greatest benefit from these features. Windows XP

Professional power management improvements also mean that IT professionals spend less time

supporting frustrated users who just want Hibernate to work properly or want to undock their computer

without errors.

Users Accomplish More in Less TimeThe following list shows how Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 make all users

more productive:

Office Professional Edition 2003 enables users to find files quicker, format content more easily,

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and work more efficiently by putting relevant features just a click away.

Office Professional Edition 2003 applications give users easy access to important tasks in a single

integrated view: the Task Pane. From the Task Pane, which users see on the right side of the window,

users can search, open or create new documents, view the clipboard’s contents, format their documents,

and much more. Different tasks have different panes. The result is that users get more done without

having to call the Help desk for instructions. Here are a few samples:

o New Document. Creating a new file or opening an existing file is simpler by using the Task

Pane. Not only can users quickly open new files from within this pane, but they can also create new

documents from Web-based templates or existing documents and get a list of their most recently

used templates and documents.

o Clipboard. Office Professional Edition 2003 improves the clipboard by allowing users to copy

up to 24 pieces of information at once across all Office Professional Edition 2003 applications or the

Web and store them on the Task Pane. Also, the Task Pane gives users a visual representation of

the data on the clipboard and a sample of the text so that they can easily choose between different

items on the clipboard.

o Search. The search features in Office Professional Edition 2003 make finding text in a

document simpler. Users can also find files and folders, regardless of where they’re stored, without

leaving the document on which they’re working. Further, users can index files on their machines,

resulting in faster and much more comprehensive searches.

Office Professional Edition 2003 provides relevant information and options when users need

them.

Smart Tags are a set of buttons that all Office Professional Edition 2003 applications share. These

buttons appear when users need them, such as when an Excel 2003 formula contains an error or when

Word 2003 automatically corrects text that users enter. For example, Word 2003 provides a way for users

to modify automatic behavior, as shown in Figure 6: They can undo an automatic correction or choose to

forgo that correction in the future.

Figure 6. Smart Tags

A Smart Tag also appears when users paste content into a document. Multiple paste options allow users

to decide whether they want to paste their data as they originally copied it, change the style so that it fits

the context into which they’re pasting it, or apply specific formatting to the data based on the content.

Last, Smart Tags are extensible, so organizations can create their own. Third parties can tie into the

Smart Tag technology to offer their own solutions for Office Professional Edition 2003 users. For example,

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an organization can create a Smart Tag that links users directly to all of the organization’s customers,

orders, prices, and more each time users type an order number into Excel 2003.

Windows XP Professional gets users to work quicker by booting faster.

Typical computers can take several minutes to boot up, which is far too long for a business meeting

during which potential clients are short on time and patience. Startup and shutdown times are a critical

part of mobile users’ experiences, and Windows XP Professional includes power-management

improvements that move the computer closer to instant-on access.

Windows XP Professional is based on the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)

specification. This specification allows computers to emerge from Hibernate mode in less than 30

seconds. Hibernate mode turns off all power to the computer for an indefinite period of time while

maintaining the state of all open programs and connected devices. Windows XP Professional also

supports Suspend mode, which puts the computer into a deep sleep that uses very little power. Waking

from Suspend mode takes only a few seconds but can add hours to battery life. Both Hibernate- and

Resume-mode performance improvements enhance the availability of users’ computers, and because

they work better than in earlier versions of Windows, planning mobile configurations and supporting

power management are easier for IT professionals.

Windows XP Professional interrupts users less, making them more productive.

Windows XP Professional dramatically reduces reboot scenarios over Windows 2000. The operating

system eliminates most scenarios that force end users to reboot in earlier versions of Windows. Also,

many software installs will no longer require reboots. The result is users experience higher levels of

uptime. IT professionals probably benefit most from a reduced number of reboots, however.

Troubleshooting, configuring, and installing software take much less time when they don’t have to restart

the computer at each step.

Leverage hardware investments by allowing mobile users to work on multiple screens, expanding

their working spaces.

Mobile users can benefit from hardware features designed to enhance user experience, such as

DualView. DualView is an extension to the multiple monitor support built into Windows 2000. Some high-

end display adapters and many portable computers support two interfaces to the same display adapter.

DualView enables both interfaces to display different outputs at the same time. For example, on a

portable computer, users can connect a monitor and use both the laptop computer’s display and the

external monitor to expand their desktop space. Also, users giving presentations can use the laptop

computer’s display to look up information in documents without interfering with the presentation that the

audience sees on the second monitor.

Mobile users work for longer periods of time because of less fatigue from clearer text display.

Microsoft ClearType® is a new text display technology that triples the horizontal resolution available for

rendering text. This technology results in clear text on a standard LCD screen using a digital interface.

Users can choose alternative forms of input that feel more natural.

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Office Professional Edition 2003 enable you to use pens to control

your computers, input text, and even store handwritten notes directly in their documents. For example,

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users can take meeting notes in their own handwriting and then convert those notes to text after the

meeting.

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Office Professional Edition 2003 both support speech recognition as

a more natural form of input, supplementing the traditional mouse and keyboard. Users can dictate text,

navigate menus, format documents, and much more by using speech recognition.

Users Are Productive in the Office and on the GoThe following list shows how Windows XP Professional makes users productive when not connected to the

network:

Mobile users can take important information with them so that they’re as productive as if they

were in the office—with little effort from IT professionals.

In Windows XP, Offline Files and Folders provides consistent access to network-based documents,

helping users to stay more productive whether they’re on an airplane or working at a remote site. Multiple

users can share the same files, folders, and Web sites, whether they’re connected to the network or not,

and they can easily synchronize those resources.

Offline Files and Folders allows users to take any combination of files, folders, and entire mapped drives

offline. You can right-click any network-based file or folder and then click Make Available Offline. Users

access their offline resources in the My Network Places folder, just as if they were still connected. This

means that users don’t have to look in different places for their offline resources depending on whether

they’re connected to the network or not. It also means that users don’t have to manually synchronize

offline resources, because Offline Files and Folders handles synchronization automatically.

The benefits of this feature to IT professionals are many. First, because the feature is easy to use, IT

professionals must spend less time training users how to take files offline. Offline Files and Folders is a

huge improvement over Briefcase, too, because users no longer call the Help desk requesting help to

recover files lost because of synchronization errors that naturally occur with a manual process (Offline

Files and Folders synchronizes automatically). Last, Offline Files and Folders is manageable via Group

Policy. For example, IT professionals can configure synchronization for users and can make specific

network folders available offline automatically without users needing to configure them. The bottom line is

that IT professionals can allow users to successfully take important files with them on the road without the

headaches of earlier offline technologies and with very little effort.

Windows XP Professional automatically synchronizes offline resources, ensuring that the latest

versions are always available and up-to-date.

When working with offline resources, users must update the online versions of those resources when they

reconnect to the network. Likewise, when they disconnect from the network, they must update the local

versions of those resources to ensure that they take the latest versions with them on the road.

Synchronization Manager, a feature of Windows XP Professional (shown in Figure 7), allows users to

synchronize all network resources in a single user interface. That includes files, folders, email, and

databases. You can configure it to run automatically for some or all of these resources. For example, you

can configure certain files and folders to synchronize every time users log on to or off of the network.

Because Synchronization Manager updates only changed resources, the process completes quickly. And

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it handles the event in which multiple users change the same document intelligently. It allows users to

replace the network copy, replace their local copy, or create a second copy of the duplicate file.

Figure 7. Synchronization Manager

Users can also configure Synchronization Manager to synchronize when their computers are idle, at

regular intervals, or at scheduled times. It also allows users to synchronize resources based on their

connection types. For example, users can configure large database files to synchronize only when they’re

connected to the network using a high-speed connection.

For IT professionals, Synchronization Manager keeps offline and network versions of files synchronized

automatically instead of relying on users to manually launch the process. This takes offline technology

from a manual, error-prone process to a hands-off, robust process.

Each user’s data and settings are separate from other users’ data and settings.

Many organizations’ employees share laptop computers. Windows XP Professional supports multiple user

profiles on each machine, allowing users’ data and settings to follow them while protecting those settings

from other users. Users can configure Windows XP Professional to suit their requirements without

affecting other users.

By implementing roaming user profiles, organizations can allow users’ data and settings to follow them

from computer to computer. This capability is useful in scenarios in which users don’t use the same

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computer each time. It also ensures that users’ important data and settings are backed up on a regular

basis.

Supporting users is easier for IT professionals when each user’s settings are in separate folders. And, by

enabling roaming user profiles, IT professionals can help their organizations save money by allowing

users to share computers and use any computer with their own settings and applications.

Users are more productive when checking email.

Outlook 2003 includes numerous improvements that reduce fatigue and make users more productive

when processing their email. For example, the Reading Pane displays more information than previous

versions of Outlook, users can quickly prioritize email by using the Quick Flags feature, and Search

Folders provide quicker access to important email messages.

Office Professional Edition 2003 enables customized solutions that mobile users can take with

them.

Support for XML in Office Professional Edition 2003 enables developers to build customized and industry-

specific document solutions (or smart documents) that can help streamline processes and improve

productivity without significant employee training or downtime. With smart document solutions for

generating proposals, for example, sales teams can streamline processes and improve efficiency and

data capture. These solutions easily replace Web-based applications that require persistent online

connections.

Makes Unplugging and Hitting the Road EasierThe following list shows how Windows XP Professional makes hitting the road easier for mobile users:

Windows XP Professional makes undocking laptop computers quick and easy.

Windows XP Professional users can plug laptop computers into and out of a docking station without

changing hardware configurations or restarting the computer. This capability is especially useful because

when users move from one environment to another, they can undock the computer while applications

continue to run. The operating system automatically detects and installs new hardware when users attach

their computers to a docking station. To use this feature, however, applications and hardware must

support hot docking.

Mobile users can better manage their laptop computers’ power consumption and better forecast

how much power is left, all of which are key tools for longer and more productive work.

With ACPI, Windows XP Professional is able to manage the computer’s power state in response to input

from the user, applications, and device drivers. For example, field sales representatives using a laptop

computer for occasional note taking and looking up product information can configure the computer to

turn off the display and hard disk after a few minutes of inactivity. They can configure the computer to

stand by after a longer period of inactivity. In fact, they can often make it through an entire day of

customer calls without recharging their batteries.

Windows XP Professional builds on the Windows 2000 implementation of ACPI by offering additional

power-management features that enable the operating system to control the power used by the computer

as well as devices. These power-management features are useful to mobile users:

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o Processor power control. Users can configure the process to run at full speed when their

computer is using AC power but run at slower speeds when using battery power. This reduces the

amount of power consumed by the processor, extending battery time.

o CardBus Wake-on-LAN. This technology allows IT to better manage laptop computers plugged

into corporate networks. With CardBus Wake-on-LAN, IT can wake up sleeping computers to install

software and update the operating system and then put them back to sleep.

o Wake-on-battery. When a computer is in Standby mode while using battery power and the

power level drops too low, a wakeup event allows the system to enter Hibernation mode to preserve

data.

o Lid power and display dimming. When users close their laptop computers’ lids, Windows XP

Professional turns off the display, conserving battery power. And, when the laptop computer is

running on battery power, the operating system dims the LCD monitor. When users reconnect their

computers to AC power, the operating system returns the LCD to its original brightness.

o Selective suspend of USB ports. Windows XP Professional can turn off individual USB ports

to save power.

Windows XP Professional significantly reduces device configuration time by making it easier to

add peripheral devices to laptop computers, even when working offline.

Users can quickly add peripheral devices to their laptop computers even when working offline. Windows

XP Professional automatically detects and installs most new and many older devices, giving a true Plug

and Play performance. Plug and Play also saves time when attaching devices such as projectors and

large monitors to laptops during a presentation.

The operating system’s support for ACPI allows the Plug and Play manager to work more reliably than

earlier Plug and Play systems. It identifies new devices and assigns them system restores as necessary.

It also automatically reconfigures resource assignments when it detects changes to the computer.

Windows XP Professional supports the USB standard, allowing users to plug USB devices into computers

without rebooting. USB devices use a standard connection cable, meaning that mobile users don’t have

to travel with a bunch of extra cables and connectors. Additionally, most USB devices receive their power

from the computer, eliminating the need to lug around extra power cords and search for power outlets.

Installing new devices doesn’t require IT professionals to touch the computer or require them to add users

to the local Administrators group either. Windows XP Professional installs device drivers with elevated

privileges as long as the device driver is signed and the device driver is local (Drivers.cab in

%SYSTEMROOT% contains most of the device drivers that ship with Windows XP, and IT professionals

can easily add third-party device drivers to their Windows XP Professional source files during

deployment).

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Mobile Dependability

The four types of mobile users that the “Mobility Scenarios” section addresses have special requirements,

which go beyond just using the portable devices described in the “Mobility Devices” section. They include high

levels of dependability, connectivity, and productivity, which Windows XP Professional and Office

Professional Edition 2003 provide. This section describes the features that make the Windows XP

Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 combination the most dependable products Microsoft has

ever shipped.

High levels of dependability are important to mobile users for two reasons:

Laptop computers are more prone to loss and therefore prone to data theft. This scenario applies more to

road warriors and data collectors, because they spend large portions of time traveling.

Mobile users who travel frequently are physically separated from IT resources and Help desk technicians,

making them more difficult to support. This scenario applies more to road warriors, telecommuters, and

data collectors, as corridor warriors are physically located on campus.

Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 provide a more dependable desktop than

earlier versions of either product. First, Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003

enhance the security of mobile users’ laptop computers and vicariously the networks to which they connect.

According to KPMG, the security enhancements in Windows XP Professional have a value of about $106 per

user each year.

Second, Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 make mobile users more self-

supportable by reducing downtime and providing solutions to common problems that mobile users can use

without calling the Help desk. NerveWire says that Windows XP Professional fails at least 10 times less often

than Windows 98, which, for example, saves about $46 per user each year. 1 Document recovery in Office

Professional Edition 2003 increases users’ productivity because they don’t permanently lose documents when

an Office Professional Edition 2003 program crashes. Another example is Remote Assistance, which enables

Help desk technicians to reach out to mobile users remotely.

Better dependability is the most important Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003

attribute for IT professionals. While enhanced user productivity and connectivity are great benefits, and IT

professionals certainly benefit vicariously from them, enhanced dependability makes it easier for IT

professionals to do their jobs and to do those jobs better. With Microsoft’s latest desktop, IT professionals can

better deploy, support, and manage laptop computers for mobile users. And, as a result of the higher levels of

dependability and connectivity that Windows XP Professional offers, mobile users can be significantly more

productive.

This section describes the features that make the combination of Windows XP Professional and Office

Professional Edition 2003 the most secure and the most reliable versions of these products to date:

Provides tools to quickly resolve problems. Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition

2003 provide tools that make all types of mobile users more self-supporting, reducing Help desk calls and

providing a better computing experience. In the event that IT professionals still must get involved, the

tools in Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 make it more feasible to provide

hands-on assistance to users who are traveling or working in home offices.

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Keeps confidential information safer. Road warriors and data collectors can protect sensitive

information while they travel by using the security features in Windows XP. For example, they can use

Encrypting File System (EFS) to help protect information from theft. These security settings are now

easier for the IT professional to configure and deploy than with earlier versions of Windows and Office.

Helps protects networks from malicious intruders. All types of mobile users benefit from features in

Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 that help protect their computers from

intruders and malicious code. For example, they can use Internet Connection Firewall to help protect their

computers from intruders when connected to the Internet. Also, Outlook 2003 helps mobile users and IT

professionals safeguard against malicious email-borne viruses. These features are also easier for IT

professionals to configure and deploy.

Provides Tools to Quickly Resolve ProblemsThe following list shows how Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 make support

easier and problems quicker to fix:

Mobile users can quickly restore their laptop computers to a previous working state after

installing an application or device driver that makes their computers unstable.

System Restore enables users and administrators to restore a computer to a previous state without losing

data. System Restore automatically creates easily identifiable restore points, which allow users to restore

their configurations to a previous state. If users experience a failure or significant problem, they can use

System Restore from Safe Mode or Normal Mode to go back to a previous configuration, restoring optimal

system functionality. System Restore does not affect specific user data or document files, so restoring will

not cause users to lose their work, mail, or even browsing history and favorites.

With earlier versions of Windows, this kind of restoration required a third-party product or wasn’t possible.

IT professionals either had to reapply a disk image, restore a backup, or spend inordinate amounts of

time troubleshooting users’ computers. IT professionals can use this feature during a support call to get a

mobile user up and running quickly, especially when the trouble arises from a recent configuration

change, dramatically reducing troubleshooting time. They can also write WMI scripts for System Restore

that can create restore points or even restore to previous states without requiring user intervention.

Windows XP Professional prevents ill-behaved applications from making users’ laptop computers

unstable.

Windows File Protection protects core system files from being overwritten by application installations. If a

file is overwritten, Windows File Protection restores the correct version. By safeguarding system files,

Windows XP Professional mitigates many of the most common failures encountered in earlier versions of

Windows.

Every IT professional knows the frustration of applications changing system files during installation and

the resulting instability that it causes. They also know how frustrating and time-consuming it is to

troubleshoot these issues. Windows File Protection eliminates this entire class of problems by watching

mobile users’ configurations to ensure that nothing changes that shouldn’t change.

Windows XP Professional prevents the installation of incompatible device drivers and allows

users to restore previous drivers if a recently installed device driver makes their computers

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unstable.

When certain classes of new device drivers are installed, Windows XP Professional maintains a copy of

the previously installed driver, which can be reinstalled if problems occur. If a new device driver is causing

Windows XP Professional to malfunction, an administrator can easily reinstall the previous driver.

The benefits of Device Driver Rollback for IT professionals are similar to those of System Restore. IT

professionals don’t need to spend a lot of time troubleshooting to get broken devices working again.

Instead, they simply restore the previously working device driver. Figure 8 shows the Device Driver

Rollback feature.

Also, building on the device driver verifier found in Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional provides

even greater stress tests for device drivers. Device drivers that pass these tests will be the most robust

drivers available, ensuring maximum system stability.

Figure 8. Device Driver Rollback

Remote Assistance in Windows XP Professional provides an efficient way for Help desk

technicians to solve problems by remotely connecting to mobile users’ computers.

Remote Assistance enables users to share control of their computers with Help desk technicians.

Technicians can view the users’ screens and control the pointer and keyboard to help solve a technical

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problem. IT departments can build custom solutions on top of published APIs by using HTML to tailor

Remote Assistance to their needs. And Remote Assistance can be centrally enabled or disabled. The

bottom line is that it significantly reduces the time that IT professionals spend at users’ desks.

Help and Support Center and Troubleshooting Wizards in Windows XP Professional help resolve

problems quicker and minimize mobile users’ reliance on Help desk technicians.

The Help and Support Center in Windows XP Professional represents a significant milestone in delivering

a single resource for Online Help, support, tools, how-to articles, and other resources. Extensive Online

Help is accessible via Search, the Index, or the table of contents. Plus, it’s easy to get help from an online

Microsoft support professional, trade questions and answers with other Windows XP Professional users

on Windows newsgroups, or use Remote Assistance to request help from the organization’s Help desk.

Troubleshooters help users and IT professionals configure, optimize, and troubleshoot numerous

Windows XP Professional features. They enable users to be more self-sufficient, resulting in greater

productivity, fewer Help desk calls, and better customer service.

Mobile users easily recover their documents in the event that an Office Professional Edition 2003

program unexpectedly terminates.

Office Professional Edition 2003 provides a safer method for shutting down an application that is not

responding. Users can choose to shut down a non-responsive application while initiating recovery of the

document. They can also report the problem to Microsoft or their corporate IT department at the same

time. Also, Word 2003 and Excel 2003 can automatically invoke this corrupt document repair and

recovery functionality in the event of an error or a failure to load a file. Users can also use this

functionality by choosing Open and Repair from the File Open dialog box. Recovery is automatic, so

users don’t have to call the Help desk to recover a document—it just happens.

Common problems with running Office Professional Edition 2003 programs don’t result in calls to

the Help desk.

Office Professional Edition 2003 can recognize common problems associated with booting up an

application and can automatically run the appropriate workaround. This capability enables the user to

launch the application in the event of a boot-related error, thus preventing unnecessary downtime.

You can deploy Office Professional Edition 2003 with a local installation sources, enabling self-

resiliency for mobile users.

With earlier versions of Office, a mobile user who wasn’t connected to the network couldn’t repair Office

Professional Edition 2003 without access to the proper source files. This meant that a problem in the field

was often unfixable until the user connected to the network. With Office 2003 Editions, you can deploy the

product with a local installation sources, allowing users to repair their installations whether they’re

connected to the network or not. No longer will mobile users be stranded in the field without access to

their documents.

Helps Keep Confidential Information SaferThe following list describes how Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 help protect

organizations’ confidentiality:

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Windows XP Professional helps keep confidential information safe and reduces the risk of data

theft on laptop computers and Tablet PCs.

EFS with multiuser support provides a high level of protection from hackers and data theft. EFS encrypts

each file with a randomly generated key. The encryption and decryption processes are transparent to

users. In Windows XP, EFS provides multiple users access to encrypted documents. When traveling,

users risk having their laptop computers stolen. If a laptop is running Windows XP, and all confidential

documents are encrypted, that information is inaccessible to the thief. EFS is fully manageable via Group

Policy, so IT professionals can help mobile users protect confidential information when they take it off the

network without requiring action from those users.

Windows XP Professional includes the latest security technology, enabling functionality that

helps secure organizations’ confidential information and prevents unwanted access to laptop

computers.

The Windows XP Professional Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) builds on Microsoft’s long-established

reputation for shipping robust PKI components. Windows XP Professional features and Office

Professional Edition 2003 programs that are PKI-enabled include EFS, Microsoft Internet Explorer,

Remote Access, Outlook 2003, and more. A variety of third-party applications works with Windows XP

Professional PKI.

Mobile users can help keep confidential documents secure by individually encrypting them.

Word 2003, Excel 2003, and PowerPoint 2003 feature improved password encryption options. These

applications offer the choice of using the standard CryptoAPI, a stronger encryption algorithm than

previous versions. Default encryption remains the same for backward compatibility, while the stronger

encryption is offered as a choice.

Mobile users can protect and control who can access vital business information.

Information Rights Management (IRM) is enabled by Windows Rights Management Services on Windows

Server 2003. This feature prevents or limits documents from being used in unintended ways, giving you

and your mobile users control of sensitive information. For example, you can secure company assets by

using IRM to prevent people who receive documents or email messages from forwarding, copying, or

printing them. Users can set expiration dates on documents, after which people can view or modify them.

And users can prevent other people from unintentionally changing them by using formatting and editing

restrictions. Authoring content using IRM requires Office Professional Edition 2003.

Helps Protect Networks from Malicious IntrudersThe following list describes how Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 help protect

mobile users from malicious intruders:

Windows XP Professional helps prevent downtime due to viruses and intrusions by keeping the

system updated.

In Windows XP, Dynamic Update, Windows Update, and Automatic Update can help keep mobile users’

computers updated with the latest security patches, maintaining the computers’ integrity. This dramatically

reduces the amount of time that IT professionals spend deploying hotfixes and troubleshooting virus-

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related incidents.

Windows XP Professional helps protect laptop computers from unauthorized access and common

Internet-based attacks with a built-in firewall.

Internet Connection Firewall is the built-in Windows XP Professional firewall client that helps protect

mobile users from common Internet attacks. Mobile users will be able to more securely connect their

laptop computers to the Internet while traveling. Internet Connection Firewall is easy to configure, as

shown in Figure 9. It significantly reduces the amount of time that IT professionals spend managing

attacks.

Figure 9. Internet Connection Firewall

Windows XP Professional helps protect sensitive information with secure authentication, logon,

and email by using smart cards—the result is that laptop computers and the network are better

guarded against intrusion.

Windows XP Professional gives organizations the option to equip users with smart cards, which enable a

multifactor security system and make mobile computers even safer from attack. PC Card smart card

readers are available from a variety of manufacturers.

Office Professional Edition 2003 helps mobile users keep confidential and sensitive information

secure through user-level access controls and digital signatures.

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Office Professional Edition 2003 gives users the ability to digitally sign entire documents. This capability

enables users to know whether a document has come from a trusted source as well as whether the

document has been altered from its original state. Also, the security options for each application are now

available under a single tab under the Options dialog box, making it more likely that users will

successfully use these features.

IT professionals can significantly reduce the risk of macro viruses.

IT professionals can configure each Office Professional Edition 2003 program with a high security level,

which prevents users from running macros that aren’t signed by trusted sources. This and related security

features are easily configured during deployment by using the Office Professional Edition 2003 Resource

Kit’s Custom Installation Wizard. The resource kit also provides policy templates that make configuring

Office Professional Edition 2003 security policies easy.

Also, IT professionals can remove Visual Basic® for Applications (VBA) from Office installations on a

user, group, or organization-wide basis. However, without VBA, macros won’t work and users can’t install

Access 2003. This is the last-resort method for protecting mobile users from macro viruses.

IT professionals can help block email-borne viruses by using the Outlook 2003 antivirus features.

IT professionals can configure Outlook 2003 to help protect mobile users from most email-borne viruses.

First, Outlook 2003 helps block unsafe attachments by default. For example, the mail client automatically

removes attachments that have the .exe extension, as well as a large list of other extensions. This feature

is fully configurable by IT professionals at the mail server (Microsoft Exchange) or by using Group Policy.

Outlook 2003 also helps prevent programs from gaining programmatic access to users’ address books or

sending mail on behalf of users, unless they give their approval after Outlook 2003 notifies them. And by

default, Outlook 2003 doesn’t download Web beacons that spammers use to verify users’ identities.

Windows XP Professional supports wireless networking through the 802.1x security standard.

With support for the 802.1x security standard, Windows XP Professional allows users to roam from

access point to access point within their corporate network, or from hot spot to hot spot on public wireless

networks, without logging on to each access point. Windows XP Professional controls access per user

and per port, allowing for finer-grained access control and identification that enable a wide variety of

future services.

Windows XP Professional supports Wi-Fi Protected Access to increase the security of wireless

networks.

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a replacement for Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) that provides more

robust methods for encrypting data and authenticating network connections. The result is a new level of

protection for mobile users that are taking advantage of the Windows XP Professional wireless features.

For more information about WPA, see Overview of the WPA Wireless Security Update in Windows XP.

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Summary

Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 enhance the working lives of both mobile

users and the IT professionals who support them. Mobile users get the benefit of enhanced productivity

through features such as the Office Professional Edition 2003 Task Pane and the new Windows XP

Professional user interface. They also benefit from networking connections that are easier to configure; that

connect to corporate network resources; and that they can use to collaborate with customers, partners, and

colleagues. And, because mobile users don’t always have the benefit of an IT professional onsite when

problems arise, Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 help make mobile users more

successful by making them more self-sufficient. All in all, Windows XP Professional and Office Professional

Edition 2003 are a winning combination for all types of mobile users.

Windows XP Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 also make IT professionals’ jobs easier. The

productivity enhancements in the pair mean that the Help desk gets fewer how-to calls and spends less time

on the phone with users. The new networking features and enhancements make configuring Windows XP

Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 for deployment easier. It also makes users more likely to

configure their network connections successfully without requiring help from an IT professional. The biggest

boon for IT professionals is the higher level of dependability that Windows XP Professional and Office

Professional Edition 2003 provide, and it comes from two key areas. First, the support tools built into both

products are much better than what was available with earlier versions. These tools not only make users

more self-sufficient but also make supporting mobile users much easier and far quicker. Second, Windows XP

Professional and Office Professional Edition 2003 are the most secure and most stable products that

Microsoft has ever shipped. In both cases, this means that IT professionals can spend more time doing

important tasks and less time supporting mundane problems.

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For More Information

Office 2003 Editions

Windows XP Professional

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

Windows Mobile-based Smartphones

Windows Mobile™ 2003

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Sources

1 Higher Yields: The Financial Benefits of Windows XP Professional

2 American Institutes for Research: Office XP vs. Office 2000

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